Speeches

Good morning. Thank you, Christie, for the kind introduction, and for your tremendous work here at USAID. I also want to recognize Administrator Rajiv Shah and Assistant Administrator Eric Postel, for their leadership.

It is a pleasure to join you today to speak about the nation’s higher education agenda.

Before I begin my formal remarks, let me say that there is a lot going on right now on Capitol Hill. Because Congress has failed to agree on a solution, interest rates on new subsidized student loans doubled on July 1, costing seven million students an average of $1,000.

A lot has changed since I spoke here four years ago. I want to use this opportunity both to reflect on the theme of your conference"Delivering On the Dream"and to ask you to think ahead about what the charter movement should seek to accomplish in the next 20 years.

Thank you, Clark. The work you are doing to help the next generation become more sophisticated in understanding the news is absolutely vital. To have full power over their lives, young people must understand the world they live in. They have to read, they have to follow the news, and they have to vote. All that is such an important part of what it means to be educated. So, thank you.

I’m so pleased to be here on Father’s Day with your wonderful Chancellor, Kaya Henderson, Principal Pinder, Mr. Saunders, McKinley staff, families and friends. And a special congratulations to the fantastic McKinley Tech High School Graduating Class of 2013!

It's such a pleasure to join you today to do something that should happen much more often in educationand that is to celebrate success. I can't tell you how honored I am to have this opportunity to speak with you, and to celebrate your accomplishments with your friends and family.